On 7 Sep 2004 18:08:02 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , axolotl says...

The beam was put in for the purpose. It is a 4x12 I beam in addition to
the lumber beam that supports the house. The problem of the moment is
headroom. The bottom of the beam is seven feet from the floor. The mill
is about five and a half feet high on the pallet. My chain hoist is old,
heavy and big. I will need to get another lifting device that can fit in
the space.

Ah headroom. That was my problem also. Because I broke the
base, chip pan, and column apart it was a bit easier.

In my case I drilled a hole in the 2x10 rafter aobve whre I wanted to
assemble the mill. I passed a steel pin though that hole, and
disassembled my come-along and mounted the single pulley to the
steel pin in the overhead. The cable ran vertically from the
load hook, over the pulley, and then horizontally to come-along
itself which was hooked to another steel pin in another drilled
hole farther along the same rafter.

As mentioned I blocked the rafter on both sides.

The 4x4 verticals were loaded under compression, and the
rafter was also loaded under compression from the cable
tension.

I passed a sling around the overarm and connected on to the
load hook. The column was on a dolly so it centered up
nicely under the lift.

After bringing it up (nearly two-blocked) I moved the
already assembled base and chip pan underneath, and gently
lowered it down.

My strong suspicion is that if I had to do this without a
hoist, the best way would be to sling a 4x4 along the
length of the overarm, and bolt two more pieces crosswised
at the ends. Then four strong individuals could probably
lift in unison and pick the column right up - with one
person at each of the four ends thus formed.

Jim

I'll bet you could, too. It's heavy, but not unmanageable. I set the
column on mine by sticking a 1" pipe through the overarm support hole,
tied so it couldn't shift, then got my wife and son on one end and me
on the other. I told them to lift it a little off the ground, and if
it felt too heavy to set it back down. They said it was fine, and we
picked it up and set it on the base and pan. The overarm hole was at
a height which allowed all of us to keep our backs straight and lift
with our legs. The side step to set it down was the biggest risk, but
really wasn't an issue because we took our time. Of course, we're all
pretty good size, ymmv.

Pete Keillor